Gould Hall renovation - OU main campus

[Pete]

Not sure why they are demolishing Rhyne Hall...

So, that's two historical buildings they'll be razing:



Here's a closeup of the Thorpe building; I'm sure it was a fraternity or sorority house back in the day:

[Dekoung]

It was the Deke frat house in the early 60's. The Tri Delts were there before the Dekes.

[Martin]

oh wow... i officed in the thorpe building back in the day. middle dormer on the third floor... that was me. the building was in pretty bad shape... floors/stairway way out of skew. i wouldn't be surprised if there were some serious structural issues. -M

[FromTtown]

Here is a quick update, notice the partition framing in the administration wing.



And scaffolding on the South side of the North wing



Also here is a quick update of Collings Hall addition. This is steel framing on the Northwest side of the building



From Ttown

[BG918]

Rendering of Collings Hall (directly across the Oval from Gould)


Floor plan

[Pete]

Thanks for the updates! Much needed changes that will make a big difference on the South Oval.

This is a great video of the new addition to Gaylord Hall which is close to opening:

[Pete]

Also, if you follow the link below you'll see a live webcam of construction on the new engineering building, Devon Hall.

Looks like it's now all buttoned up on the outside and I bet they are pushing to get classes going there next school year:

Devon Energy Hall Webcam

[JIMBO]

I've heard there is a webcam trained on gould hall. Does anyone know the web address?

[Guy Noir]

deleted

[FromTtown]

Here's a recent shot of Gould showing a lot of progress. Construction appears to be fully underway now. There is also new steel going up on the north wing as of earlier this week.



Note that the existing brick bands were the last item to be demolished. They are quickly filling them in with new frame work. Here is a close up of the south wing of the building.



FromTtown

[BG918]

^ You can see in the first photo how the archway between the north and south wings will line up with the fountain in the South Oval. The eventual plan during the landscaping phase is to build a sidewalk on the courtyard side that curves slightly to the north, crosses Asp, and connects to the main entrance to the stadium parking garage. Thus you have a direct link from the garage to the South Oval through the Gould Hall archway. The archway will provide covered access to the gallery to the south and college library to the north. A patio with seating areas is planned for the courtyard which should be nice for students. While I'm still not a big fan of the design I appreciate Gould receiving a much needed renovation. Now if they could only do something about Dale Hall and Dale Tower, man those buildings are fugly!

[FromTtown]

I drove by there today and noticed they now have steel columns in place on the west wing of the building now! Construction is about to get into full swing now. The gateway from the Asp ave parking garage is a good concept, though I wonder what the final treatment to the space between Gould and the new side of Gaylord will end up looking like. At present it seem as though that area is primarly service oriented.

FromTtown

[FromTtown]

Shot last weekend:



Shot this weekend:



FromTtown

[Pete]

Here's a live webcam link for Gould Hall construction:

College of Architecture: Gould Hall Live Webcam

[JIMBO]

Thanks for the link. Now I know where not to be when I'M picking my nose at work.
I can't believe we're worth two web cams!

[FromTtown]

Steel framing work progressing on the west side:





It seems like they are sticking pretty close to the design shown on their renderings. Its really neat to watch it undergo this transformation.

Fromttown

[FromTtown]

Here is an update:



They are starting to button up the building, you can see brickwork on the North side, steel framing and decking is almost done, and mechanical work on the inside is in full swing. There is one more part of the structure on the southeast side that is still just a foundation waiting for its steel. Very exciting!

Here are some shots of the collings hall transformation as well.



Here is the frame for the new clock tower.



New brickwork on the existing exterior columns can be seen, I suppose to help it match the rest of the campus.



Contrast of the new to the old. The old part is the background and you can see plywood over the existing columns to be covered in brick. The scale of the old to the new matches really well.

FromTtown

[mugofbeer]

Thank you for the pics!

[FromTtown]

Here is a recent shot looking East from the South Oval. The new West wing is really taking shape now that the envelope is being started.



And here is the arch being constructed over the passage from the courtyard to the South Oval.



There is glass on the north side windows now, and the last part of the structure is being filled in on the Northeast side corner of the south wing. It has been a little over a year since they tore down the west side and started renovation of the building. It is progressing very nicely, especially with the start of exterior being finished on the North side.

FromTtown

[ljbab728]

Not sure why they are demolishing Rhyne Hall...

So, that's two historical buildings they'll be razing:



Here's a closeup of the Thorpe building; I'm sure it was a fraternity or sorority house back in the day:

I'm really sorry to see the Deke house going. I lived there in the late 60's and had some great times there. There were some great historical aspects to the architecture also. The dining room had amazing murals on the walls and I hope that can be saved somehow.

[twade]

I noticed the Tri-Delt crest was chiseled off of the east chimney. They were removing asbestos last I saw. Who said they were razing Rhyne Hall (former ATO house)? It makes sense; I just haven't seen anything about it.

I'm know some people are attached to Thorpe (Deke) Building, but I'm glad to see it go. The university really didn't take good care of it (surprising from an administration who has done quite well with the maintenance of older buildings).

[lasomeday]

Its funny they try to restore ugly buildings like Gould Hall yet destroy great buildings like Ryne Hall. Gould Hall is a disaster! They are going to cram all of the Architecture College in there.

[FromTtown]

This shot of the north wing gives you an idea of what the finished product will look like...



Personally, I don't like the fenestration (windows). It doesn't really match any other building closely, it just looks like they tacked modern windows onto a relatively classic brick arrangement. Could have had more horizontality to it to tie it into the rest of the campus. Just my .02

FromTtown

[BG918]

I agree, I'm not a huge fan of the windows either. I also am surprised they didn't extend the north wing to the east to gain more space.

They will be setting the huge cast stone gallery window surrounds next weekend and starting brick the week after so it should really start to look more complete on the oval-side in the next few weeks.

Another view from the South Oval


And from the parking garage

[FromTtown]

Here are some comparison shots from three different perspectives that show the building’s exterior in various degrees of completion. There are seven shots of four angles, one set of four taken today and one set of three taken exactly a year ago. A lot of progress has been made but the building still has a ways to go before total completion.


One year ago Gould was a demolition site (garage)




Now it’s a construction site (garage)




North side shell (even the brick bands shown were eventually demolished and replaced w/ metal framing)




North side today




Northeast view from sidewalk




Same view today




This part didn’t even exist last year.





The exterior wall framing has its substrate (sheathing or base covering) in place which gives the final shape of the building, and pretty much anything that is open now will be windows and anything covered will be brick. Pretty cool, though like I said I would have done it completely in a different manner if I were in charge of the design. Oh, the old building where Rhyne hall will be has been demolished, and utility and roadwork are taking place along Jenkins and Lindsey.

FromTtown